The National Children's Advocacy Center (NCAC) will provide free training on child abuse to law enforcement agencies across the country, will use a major national child abuse conference to encourage c

The National Children's Advocacy Center (NCAC) will provide free training on child abuse to law enforcement agencies across the country, will use a major national child abuse conference to encourage communities to use joint child protective services/law enforcement investigations, and will provide technical assistance to communities to expand their support of victims of child abuse and the professionals who work with them.

In November 2001, the NCAC hosted a Law Enforcement Think Tank that identified three priority needs. One of these priority needs has been met through the efforts of a previous Byrne grant. This program will address two of those issues: the need for training for first responding officers and the need for more joint child protective services/law enforcement investigations.

(1) Beginning in the fall of 2003, the NCAC will offer on-line training for responding police officers at no cost to law enforcement agencies across the country. The on-line training was developed through an earlier Byrne grant and tested with the help of the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
(2) In March 2003, the NCAC will host a series of workshops at the 20th National Symposium on Child Abuse that focus on joint CPS/LE investigations. These workshops will encourage communities to use joint teams.
(3) Acknowledging that the support of the entire community, as well as professional collaboration, is required for effective child abuse intervention, this project will focus on enhancing a select number of community collaborative projects that were originated through the Safe Kids/Safe Streets Initiative or that are considered expansion of the core children's advocacy center model. Information on these projects will be shared with other communities.

nca/ncf